As Florence arrives, FEMA and its administrator face mounting scrutiny

FEMA chief Brock Long responded on Sept. 13 to reports of the inspector general’s investigation of whether he used government vehicles for personal use. (Reuters)

As the Federal Emergency Management Agency scrambled Thursday to prepare for Hurricane Florence, the agency’s top official was battling allegations of misconduct and President Trump revived a controversy over FEMA’s response to the deadly storm that devastated Puerto Rico a year ago.

FEMA has faced increasing criticism in recent days for its response to Hurricane Maria following the release of two federal reports detailing how the agency was stretched thin, overwhelmed and lacking in trained personnel, and a university study that raised the death toll in Puerto Rico to nearly 3,000. Meanwhile, FEMA administrator William “Brock” Long spent part of Thursday deflecting questions about an internal investigation into his use of government vehicles and allegations that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen attempted to force his resignation .

The day began with tweets from the president falsely claiming that the number of deaths attributable to Maria had been inflated by Democrats to “make me look as bad as possible.” Long said that despite the distractions, he and his agency are “100 percent” focused on the hurricane. “That’s exactly where our attention needs to be from the standpoint of the life safety mission,” he said at a media briefing.

View the complete September 13 article by William Wan and Nick Miroff on the Washington Post website here.